A guide to Gamma’s Horizon hosted phone system and Horizon Integrator.

Horizon Hosted Phone System

Horizon is a complete communications service that provides a range of fixed and mobile telephony capabilities via an easy-to-use web portal. It allows you to manage your calls whilst enabling your employees to maximise their productivity.

The key benefits are:

• Cost – Minimal capital outlay due to no onsite hardware and extremely competitive on-net rates over a business-grade network.
• Greater control – Take complete control of your phone system with an extensive range of call handling and management features, all operated through an easy-to-use web interface. Ideal for home workers or multiple sites.
• Improving customer service – Enhance the service you can provide to your customers at all times with dynamic call handling, pre-recorded messages, and seamless transfers at the touch of a button.
• Reliable and secure – Full support provided, including training, number porting, provisioning, and 24/7 UK-based assistance giving you complete peace of mind.

A guide to Horizon Integrator Integration features

There are several ways of integrating with Horizon:

Standard Integrations
For standard integrations Gamma has partnered with a leading CRM developer, allowing them to use their open API’s to facilitate the integration.

Controlled Integrations
Controlled integrations are typically integrations that have limited or no support from the application developer and therefore future releases or updates might not be available.



The integration add-in is not available by default within the Horizon Integrator client and must be enabled by a Horizon Integrator Developer at the time of installation. Controlled integrations are provided on a company-by-company basis and each instance carries a fixed installation fee.

Standard Select
Standard Select integrations are Standard integrations that can only be installed by a qualified installer. Standard Select integrations are governed by an additional set of conditions the installer is contractually obligated to comply with, through enrolment in the Select installer program. Standard Select integrations attract an additional activation and annual support fee.

Add-ins
An Add-in is a program that is written to link the Horizon Integrator client to a specific business application. The Add-ins are included with and configured from within the Horizon Integrator client and provide a range of set integration features from the list below:

• Caller Preview
  Displays the caller’s name in the Preview or Phone window when a match against it is found in the integrated business application(s).
• Contact Popping
  Take complete control of your phone system with an extensive range of call handling and management features, all operated through an easy-to-use web interface. Ideal for home workers or multiple sites.
• Contact Searching
  Concurrently searches the integrated business applications and enables Contact Popping or Click to Dial from the results.

• Click to Dial
  Makes it possible to dial directly from the business application. The exact method varies between business applications Manage your organisation’s entire communications from multiple sites
  
  

TAPI Integration
TAPI is a Microsoft Windows API and stands for Telephony Application Program Interface. TAPI allows a computer to monitor and control one or more extensions on a typical business telephone system.

“Monitoring” allows information such as a caller’s number (CLI) or dialed number (DDI) to be passed from the telephone system to the computer. This enables, for example, the caller’s number to be used to “pop” a contact record in the customer CRM system.

“Control” allows the computer to make the telephone system perform functions, for example, answer a call ringing on the handset from the computer or make a call by clicking on a number on the computer screen (known as “click to dial” or “click to call”).

Who uses TAPI?
TAPI is most frequently used by business application developers so that they can build telephony features such as screen popping and click to dial into their applications. CRM, Service Desk and Accounting apps are all examples of business applications.

How is TAPI provided?
TAPI is made available to an application via a TAPI Service Provider or TSP (more commonly called a TAPI driver). The TSP is written and provided by the telephone system manufacturer or specialist CTI companies.



The TSP makes a proprietary connection to the PBX and then presents TAPI to the application either as a Windows driver or as a DLL. Horizon TAPI provides a driver only which is the most common method used. At Gamma, we support 1st party TAPI only (when the TSP monitors a single extension on the telephone system).

If you would like to know about how you can get more from your Hosted Voice telephony system or Horizon Integrator, why not contact Utilize Telephony Advisor – Michael Prior, who will be happy to talk you through your options. You can email him directly below.

Click here to email Michael Prior